Snowgrass Mountain
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Snowgrass Mountain is a mountain summit located in Chelan County of Washington state. Snowgrass Mountain is situated northeast of Frosty Pass and within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Snowgrass Mountain is the second-highest peak in the Chiwaukum Mountains, a subset of the
Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
. Its nearest higher peak is
Big Chiwaukum Big Chiwaukum is a prominent mountain summit located in Chelan County of Washington state. Big Chiwaukum is situated northeast of Frosty Pass, and within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Big Chiwaukum is the highest peak in the Chiwaukum Mounta ...
, to the north. Precipitation runoff from Snowgrass drains into tributaries of the Wenatchee River.


Climate

Most weather fronts originate in the Pacific Ocean, and travel east toward the Cascade Mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks of the Cascade Range, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the Cascades ( Orographic lift). As a result, the Cascades experience high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall. During winter months, weather is usually cloudy, but, due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer.


Geology

The Alpine Lakes Wilderness features some of the most rugged topography in the
Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
with craggy peaks and ridges, deep glacial valleys, and granite walls spotted with over 700 mountain lakes. Geological events occurring many years ago created the diverse topography and drastic elevation changes over the Cascade Range leading to the various climate differences. Snowgrass Mountain is composed of schist, part of the Nason terrane laid down 210 million years ago. During the Pleistocene period dating back over two million years ago, glaciation advancing and retreating repeatedly scoured the landscape leaving deposits of rock debris. The last glacial retreat in the Alpine Lakes area began about 14,000 years ago and was north of the Canada–US border by 10,000 years ago. The "U"-shaped cross section of the river valleys are a result of that recent glaciation.
Uplift Uplift may refer to: Science * Geologic uplift, a geological process ** Tectonic uplift, a geological process * Stellar uplift, the theoretical prospect of moving a stellar mass * Uplift mountains * Llano Uplift * Nemaha Uplift Business * Uplif ...
and faulting in combination with glaciation have been the dominant processes which have created the tall peaks and deep valleys of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area.


See also

*
List of peaks of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness The Alpine Lakes Wilderness contains a number of mountain peaks and ranges: Snoqualmie peaks * Kaleetan Peak — * Chair Peak (Washington), Chair Peak — * Denny Mountain — * Guye Peak — * Hibox Mountain — * Sno ...


References

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External links

* Weather forecast
Snowgrass MountainAlpine Lakes Wilderness (Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest)
U.S. Forest Service Mountains of Washington (state) Mountains of Chelan County, Washington Cascade Range North American 2000 m summits